


Proof of Living

by RikaRov



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Domestic Boyfriends, Established Relationship, Fluff, Knitting, M/M, Post-Canon, Reminiscing, ShuAkeWeek2020, domestic husbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:41:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27668362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RikaRov/pseuds/RikaRov
Summary: “Why don’t we knit one for our own?” Akira suggested.“Our own?” Goro parroted.“Yeah, you know how people said knitting for another is a form of love. When they wear or use them they feel extra warm and comfortable.” Akira said as he slid his hand around Goro’s waist, tugging both of their bodies close and nuzzling his face into Goro’s neck.Goro responded his affection by gently patting his head. “I guess we can try.”
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	Proof of Living

**Author's Note:**

> ShuAkeWeek 2020: per aspera ad astra 
> 
> This is a collaboration with my friend [Somnum](https://twitter.com/NoxSomni), link to their art at the end notes!

In an apartment located in Kichijoji, warm light illuminates the living space, some escapes from the curtains and shines on the balcony. The apartment isn’t big but it is spacious, connecting the living room, dining room and kitchen together.

Trailing along to the source of a rhythmic clicking sound, a pair of knitting needles guided by pale and long slender fingers, intertwining the yarns together. A silver ring band with gold stripe in the middle fitted firmly on his left ring finger, the ring shines when caught on the light at the right angle from the standing lamp by the couch.

In the center of the room, Goro sat cross legged on the couch, the half-done baby blanket lying on his lap and a yarn ball on his left. From time to time, he stretches out his leg to allow blood circulation. When he’s back to work on the blanket, quiet, almost peaceful, listening to the jazz music playing in the background from the sound system.

Before midnight hits, the peaceful atmosphere was disrupted by the sound of unlocking the door, a voice came from the house entrance. “I’m home!” following by footsteps walking towards the living room.

“Welcome home,” Goro responded back, the words rolled out from his tongue naturally. He distantly remembered 10 years ago, the first time he greeted Akira when he’s home from work, it was awkward. 

It was uneasy at first for both of them, Akira had just recovered from haphephobia and Goro was still managing through his days with his therapist. But the feeling of being welcomed home always took a positive effect on him, it felt like letting off the stress outside of the door, a strong urge of seeking comfort always washed over him, whether from the soft mattress or from Akira. Goro never would imagine this could be his daily life from now on.

Feeling Akira behind him with a pair of his hands on his shoulder, Goro raised his head upwards and rested his head on the back of the couch, looking back at Akira. The other boy looked at him fondly, smiling eyes like the most precious jewel in the world. He noticed a few wrinkles started to form on the side of his dazzling eyes, even the notorious Leader of the Phantom Thieves can’t beat the concept of aging.

Before he can raise his hand to touch his wrinkles, Akira landed a kiss on his forehead, more kisses down to his nose, to his lips. Akira bit playfully with his lips and he did the same. 

Akira broke off the kiss and looked at his upside down husband, who was smirking at him. 

“Someone’s in a good mood today.” 

Akira only responded with a chuckle, standing up straight he took off his blazer and hung it at the back of the dining chair. Walking back to the right side of the couch while untying his black tie and sitting down besides Goro.

Akira closed his eyes and stretched out his body with a few satisfying pops from his joints, he was all stiff sitting in the office all day rushing for a project for the day after tomorrow. As Akira relaxes his body, he lays his head on Goro’s shoulder, his left hand seeks for the other. Only he noticed Goro was holding onto something soft and opened his eyes and saw his husband knitting something, of all people, his husband.

Goro never came of being a person with patience for all the while Akira knew him, “You? Knitting?” He eyed his husband with a tilt of his head.

Giving him a rolling eye, he replied lazily, “This is actually for the charity knitting, one of the knitting groups approached the orphanage I helped with and offered the idea to us. They dragged me into the project and now I can’t back out anymore.”

Akira hummed, looking at Goro sternly, his head definitely thinking about something, “Why don’t we knit one for our own?” Akira suggested.

“Our own?” Goro parroted.

“Yeah, you know how people said knitting for another is a form of love. When they wear or use them they feel extra warm and comfortable.” Akira said as he slid his hand around Goro’s waist, tugging both of their bodies close and nuzzling his face into Goro’s neck.

Goro responded his affection by gently patting his head. “I guess we can try, what do you want to make? Please be something that is not too difficult.”

“Let me search it up.” Akira said as he pulled his phone out from his pocket while maintaining his position against Goro. Quickly typing in “knit product” in the image search bar, scrolling the search results as he mumbled _nothing difficult_. “I think either a scarf or a blanket are the easiest, the steps are in repeat unless you want to make some fancy imagery or pattern on them.”

Goro looked at Akira’s phone while he started up a video explaining how it was done, “It doesn’t seem too difficult, we can do the blanket without needing other knitting tools, or so it seems.” The video continued to show how to change to a different colour of yarn, “We can make it with the colours we like, combining both of them together should look great.”

Akira placed his phone on Goro’s lap and counted with his fingers, “Black, red, beige and gold?”

“Pretty much that’s it.” Goro confirmed.

“Then let’s go get them on our next day off.” Akira chimed. “And for now…” He connected their lips with a passionate kiss.

—

On Saturday evening, they visited Ananda in Kichijoji, the largest and closest yarn shop they could find on the internet. The shop was filled with people, a must go place for people that love to knit across Japan. There’s even an actual spinning wheel here, the staff demonstrating how yarns were made to the children and visitors.

The amount of choices definitely overwhelming, Goro the ever most prepared person in the world for any occasion dragged Akira to the section with the thicker roving yarns. Goro picked up a few different types of yarn and felt the texture with his hands, Akira mirrored his action. 

They spent an hour browsing, choosing and debating which types of yarn they should go for. Only managed to decide with the help from the sales attendant, they finally settled with just acrylic yarns since it’s the most common type used by many beginners. 

Turns out the amount of yarn they needed to make a full size blanket for both of them almost equivalent to the size of their dining table, they had it delivered the next day at their apartment. After making the purchase, they take two jumbo yarns in each of their arms, they can start tonight while waiting for their order to arrive. 

Along the way, they gained weird glances from the public as they walked side-by-side while hugging the bulky yarn. The public definitely recognised Goro, they even took pictures of both of them. The public’s action doesn’t affect both of them at all, they were in their own little world, unbothered by the weird look from other people.

“What do you think others will think when we finish this project?” Akira asked curiously.

“Others?” Goro took some time to let each of his friends appear in his mind, “Ann will be overjoyed, Ryuji will question us why we are doing some girly stuffs, Yusuke will look deeper into the emotions to get more artistic ideas, Makoto will be wondering how we get the time to do this, Futaba will just snuggle straight into the blanket with Morgana, Haru will share with us her past knitting projects and knitting experiences, and Sumire will want to start her own for her parents.”

Akira laughed and feeling surprised at his response, it’s been so far they had come along down this road, Goro had made close friends with all the Phantom Thieves members, growing together with each other. If you were to tell 17 years old Akira that Goro will make good friends with them, he will doubt it immediately. The transition was _too_ amazing to be part of it, he is proud that Goro too can make real friends.

Goro smiled back at Akira’s laugh, he had to admit, Akira’s laughter is contagious. He had almost never heard Akira laugh openly until one day he was comfortable enough with physical touches and tickled Akira. 

The idea of tickling came from being together with their friends on a scheduled sleep over at Haru’s house, he remembered clearly in his head Futaba was shouting _Who is the less ticklish person!_ challenging everyone present in the room. Screams and laughter filled up the house and it was warm and fuzzy all around Goro’s chest. 

Nobody really dared to touch Akira and Goro because they always had this personal space whenever they were around with other people. That night however, maybe it was the effect of their friends, or maybe a playful spirit hit Goro that night, he licked his lips and bit on his bottom lips playfully, and ghostly landed his fingers on Akira’s waist. 

Akira jolted in response and stared at him with wide eyes, unbelievable what had just happened. It was almost like Goro knew what Akira was thinking, he jumped on Akira and unleashed his tickling attack. A high pitch scream escaped from Akira together with breathless laughter, “Akechi! Hahahaha! Stop! Please! Akechi!”

Goro stopped his attack feeling light hearted and smuglish after rendering his rival defenceless against him, only then he realised he was on top of Akira. A rush of heat raised up on his cheek, he quickly stood up and walked out of the room, out to the balcony. The thieves were speechless at their exchange, each having their own opinion in mind. Akira evaded the questioning of the others and got some drink for them at the kitchen after that. 

He truly wished both of them could always be this carefree anywhere, whatever the public thinks of them, it doesn’t matter as long as they are legally married and will always be by each other's side no matter what happens. “Well, aren’t my observations and profiling of them on point?”

“Yes yes, _my Detective Prince_ ,” said Akira, still trying to catch his breather from all the laughing.

—

Reaching back at home, they placed the yarn on the dining chair. They have decided that they will use the dining table to work on the blanket project since it will be taking up a lot of space.

On the next morning, they vacuumed and mopped to clean the area once more, just to make sure it would be squeaky clean while working on the blanket.

Finally getting started on working on their first row of stitches, they made sure to make every stitch even and the total width was the same for both of them. They both worked in silence until the second row was finished.

Letting out a long sigh, Akira raised his head to meet Goro’s eye. “This requires so much concentration, more than making lock picks back then. How do you even manage to work with such consistency?”

“Well, I felt the same the first time I did it, it gets easier over some time and your hand will just move on itself.” Goro said encouragingly.

“I do hope I have that determination to complete this.” Akira said while resting his head on the heel of his hand.

Goro raised an eyebrow at his statement, “That’s certainly not quite the Akira I know of. How about this? We can talk while we work on this, I do find myself reflecting most of the time when I’m knitting.”

“Talk? What can we want to talk about?” Well, that did make Akira take an interest, Goro bringing his hand back to work, Akira follows.

“I’ve been reflecting a lot recently, looking back at the past 35 years of my life. It is certainly quite a story, probably if I ever write it into a fiction, people might actually be intrigued by it.” Akira hummed to let Goro continue, “Thinking back of my birth, getting my revenge, living out my life. That’s quite a feat don’t you think?”

Akira took hold on Goro’s hand across the table, he knows, no matter how calm or cheerful Goro may sound, the down cast of his eyebrows, the closed crescent eye, the forced upward curve of his lips, all of these miniature signals had never escaped Akira’s keen eyes. He squeezed Goro’s hand lightly, “Hey, you don’t have to talk about it if you’re feeling uncomfortable.”

Taking in a shuddered breath, “It’s all in the past, and that’s what made me what I am today.” Goro shifted his fingers to intertwin with Akira’s, “And you, you’ve been my most important treasure since then.” He looked earnestly into Akira’s obsidian eye, squeezed his hand lightly, “Truthfully, I don’t think I’ll fare badly without you.” Ending his remarks with his smirk.

Letting a huff out of his nose, Akira removed his hand and got back to work. That initial talk really made his hand work a little bit faster and more naturally. Stretch, pull, rest, he repeated the simple three motions until they were ready to continue with the conversation. “If all of these never started, I’ll never meet you, not in a million times. Probably I’ll just follow what my parents wanted me to do and get married to some arranged marriage wife.” He frowned, “Thinking about that, I might never know what true happiness really is.”

“Well, that’s all a hypothetical saying.” Goro gave a pause there. “I definitely prefer the life I have right now, will never trade it with something else.” He said it with a blush.

Akira gave out a light chuckle, Goro always blushed saying his feelings out but never ever shy away whenever he needed physical affections after he opened up to Akira. “If there’s another god come to steal you away from me again, I’ll kill all of them every single one of them.”

“You’d better be, your PTSD recovery was one hella difficult to handle.” 

“Said who?” 

Goro blushed harder at his taunt. “Okay, this is getting nowhere, sorry for bringing it up.” 

Akira felt victorious and pinched Goro’s nose with his knuckles, earning him a slap at his hand.

Goro was not someone that was easily being teased, but that changed since Goro forced Akira to be honest with his own feelings. That day Goro was expecting Akira would say he doesn’t want to be with Goro anymore, that was because Goro has been receiving mixture of signals from Akira. God knew that Akira confessed to him, taken by shock, Goro then was continuously teased by his _boyfriend_. 

They resumed their knitting, both reminiscing the different points of their relationship in their head. Their eyes were soft and a small upward curve on their lips. The feeling is always welcoming, by now they have shared a quarter of their lifetime together, everyday it just gets better. Like now, this small piece of their moment will be part of their favourite memory together.

—

Akira decided to switch on some music, it’s been quiet for some time now. A loud rumbling distracted Akira’s hand movements on his phone trying to connect to the bluetooth speaker.

“Ah, I didn’t notice it’s past noon already, I’ll get us something to eat now.” It was Goro’s stomach notifying it’s their eating schedule now, he gets up to prepare their lunch.

Goro used to be a disastrous cook but for the sake of Akira, he got better at cooking. Sometimes even come up with some new dishes just to make sure keeping Akira’s appetite up, though his eating disorder conditions already gotten better over the years, the worrywort Goro dotes him to a point where he actually overeats because that one particular meat sauce tastes so good on _every_ types of meat. He had never given any other dishes higher scores than this sauce, it became his most favourite in his life. If you tell him Goro took food science and culinary courses just to make this, he would believe it.

Akira’s not a bad cook himself, the time he spent with his friends traveling around the world for food tasting had allowed him to replicate any food with the right ingredients. His tongue has been trained so well by Goro and the thieves, he could spell out the recipe with just one meal. 

He could even remember that one time he took over Goro’s food blog and did vlog together for some questionable food available in the world. He even went to lengths to order it online, sometimes asking Ann or Haru to get that specific food for them when they went overseas for work. The vlogs grew Goro’s popularity as an influencer even higher.

Hearing the kitchen exhaust fan running in the kitchen, the smell of his favourite sauce coming from the kitchen. His mouth reacts on instinct, saliva gathering around his mouth, can’t wait to be satisfied with the food. He got up and walked to the living room area and sat down on the floor by the coffee table, with the current dining table occupied with their knitting project they will just have to settle eating on the coffee table.

Another 10 minutes passed, Goro takes out a wood tray with food for both of them. The meal was completed with rice, Goro’s Secret Sauce chicken, marinated vegetables and miso soup. He sat down beside Akira and they ate while listening to the news. This has been their routine for many years, Akira will prep meals on the weekdays if he’s back early from work and Goro will do it on the weekends.

“My favourite, thanks darling.” Giving Goro a kiss on his cheek, they both picked up his chopstick and said _thanks for the food_ in unison. 

“You remember the time when Morgana had to move out?” Goro asked suddenly, Akira turned his attention back to him. “He was so sad that he can’t eat this anymore, saying we were abandoning him or _you don’t love me anymore_ in a dramatic way.” They both laughed when the imagery of Morgana’s crying cat face appeared in their mind, “Thinking back, me and him just wanted a place to belong. Both of us found that in you, if you don’t know that.”

“But he still found his place right now, after he talked to you for a few weeks.”

“Right, you had no idea how difficult that few weeks were, self-discovery for someone doesn’t have any background was _hard_ , real hard.” Goro sounded dreadful at his experiences with his and Morgana’s self-discovery period. “Still glad he is now happy being a celebrity pet along with Ann.”

“Ann now being perceived as the alluring model with a handsome black cat,” Akira laughed as he shook his head, “I briefly remembered the crew’s reaction when you and Ann showed Morgana responded to both of your commands. From then on, he’s been casted for any pet commercials. Being well fed by his sponsors and even went internationally famous.” Akira exhaled, “I missed him though.”

Goro put down his chopsticks and put his hand over Akira. “I’m sure he missed us too, we can always give them a call.” 

Akira nodded. “Let’s eat.” They both turned their focus back to their meal and the news. 

The doorbell rang, Akira went to get the door and the staff from Ananda delivered the rest of the jumbo yarns to them. Seems like today they will have a lot of progress.

—

Sitting back down at the dining table, Akira thinking of Morgana and Ann, “Say, something changed after Morgana went with Ann, did something happen that I don’t know?”

A small hint of pink raised up to Goro's ear, he promised Ann not to tell anybody about their little secret. “It’s a secret.”

“With who?”

“You won’t get anything out from me.”

Akira narrowed his eyes, “Secret for life?”

“Secret for life.” Goro parroted. “Look, I made a promise to other people and swore not to tell a single soul, not even you, they said.”

Akira exhaled and shrugged, Goro and the thieves got really close the past 10 years, there were times that he was purposely removed from some of the hangouts with Goro. Akira was suspicious of them at first but he knew that the hangout was not about him. Akira gathered up the empty plates and went back to the kitchen to clean.

Goro let out a sigh of relief, he really didn't want the other girls to get back at him. Girls are scary, especially the Phantom Thieves ladies. Goro went back to the dining table and continued his progress on the blanket, thinking back to his time with the other thieves. 

Goro had a super embarrassing time spent with Ann, going all out to see both of their different sides with all different kinds of costumes. Exposing himself to Ann, even the sides he never showed to Akira before; it was the same with Ann, not even Shiho— well, Ann already showed every side of her to Shiho anyways. 

How it all happened was Goro helping out Ann at the modelling agency as a part time model, he doesn’t mind because he was pretty lost with his life at that point and they paid well. As days went on, the cameraman told him he felt Goro was quite lifeless, he can’t find a soul or spirit in his modelling and photography, there’s no meaning behind every smile or expression, there’s no _someone_ behind his eyes. Goro didn’t know what to feel back then but pretty sure he felt hurt but his heart was a little too numb after all his high school life ordeals. 

Ann volunteered to help out Goro, she insisted it even Goro rejected her multiple times. One time, she opened up to tell him the real reason, “I was in the same position like you back then, I have no aim in my life. Modelling was just a convenient job for me to sustain my shopaholic lifestyle. After seeing Shiho and Mika working so hard for themselves, I want to be better than them. They feel the same when I work harder for my goal: wanting to influence other people to be better.” 

The end results were evident, even with the most silly method, it definitely helped Goro be able to see who he was and who he wanted to be. Where he finally decided to talk to a therapist, the progress was slow but he’s moving forward.

Goro paused as he looked up to Akira, which also had some sort of smile as he knits. “How’s Ryuji?” Goro asked promptly, all the thoughts of Ann had him thinking about Ryuji, the original trio along with Akira. 

Akira hummed, “Should be the same old Ryuji.” He stopped his hands and put his elbow on top of the table, resting his chin on his palm. “He studied so hard after you challenged him to finish his university, I didn’t know you would challenge someone else other than me.” Akira frowning and curving his eyebrow downwards.

“What? You‘re jealous now?” Goro rolled his eyes, “He had been venting about people aren’t taking him seriously even after he graduated high school, I just gave him a little push.”

“Oh? I think you did more than a little.” Akira sounded amused. “You even helped him to get together with his wife.”

“I only reminded him to be more sensitive to other people’s feelings, especially the ones that you cared for. If he didn’t take it by heart, I had no idea how many times his girlfriend would want to break up with him when things hadn’t settled down for them.” Goro exhaled.

“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.” Akira gave a little smirk but his eyes were fond.

Goro deadpanned.

“And as a thanks from him, he brought you back to his home a lot, to spend time with his mother.”

Goro’s finger fiddles with the yarn in his hands, “Yeah, his mother is nice, like really nice even after hearing I’m a bastard child. She gets what Ryuji was trying to do and offers me a second place to call home, if I want to.” Goro blushed a little, “Which I’m too overwhelmed by the welcome at that time, I’m still very thankful that it happened.”

—

They had let the TV on after their lunch, the news channel programme was airing some art interviews. It was Yusuke’s art achievements in this interview, showing his key artworks for Japan tourism. The art features different locations of Japan, Yusuke had spent a year on this commission.

The day that Yusuke got offered this job from the Japan tourism office, he was so nervous he started to doubt himself about it. He tried to paint places out of his memories, he was not satisfied with the results. Yusuke called Akira’s phone at midnight, waking up Goro in the process, asking for help and insights. They both suggested him to calm down and head to the briefing first, it all worked out in the end.

Akira and Goro had already become Yusuke’s key people that guide his painting. The one time Goro offered to help Yusuke look at his art, then Yusuke always stuck to show Goro first before everyone else. Talking to Yusuke requires a lot of creativity, the right creativity so to say. Goro tried to help by reading a lot of art critics, he tried all of the aesthetic critics on Yusuke’s art but in the end, he just needed to tell how he truly feels about Yusuke’s art. The other thieves found out about it and teased him being a big softy inside, Goro only returned their comments with silence.

Yusuke in return, will tell how he feels about things Goro told him. Whenever Goro needed any neutral advice, Yusuke would always be that one person. Especially when it comes to relationships and emotions with people, Yusuke may not be the person that is good at communicating with people but he is sensitive to other people’s emotion, even when they try to hide it. Can’t say how many times Yusuke had helped Goro when handling friendship with Makoto, Futaba and Haru.

—

Goro got up to bring over other yarns as their current bunch was almost fully knitted. He went to check on his phone for any incoming messages, there were, and it’s all from Futaba. Oh and a few from Sae.

He read Sae’s message first, and it happened to be an invitation to have dinner together with Makoto next weekend. Goro’s relationship with Makoto was a little bit awkward, Makoto doesn’t really like Goro’s guts, she was also sort of jealous of him because Sae praised him for his hard work and achievements post-graduated too.

Makoto is not like Akira, they both have the same quality to be a worthy rival but Makoto usually will get carried by her stubbornness and emotions. It was quite a hard time to reach a peaceful rivalry outcome for them, not until Makoto finally let go of her ego and decided to talk. Goro recognised Makoto’s abilities and that totally took her off guard, she always thought Goro hated her. They both laughed it off and since then nobody dared to offend either of them or they would get their brain kicked.

“Akira, Sae-san invited us for dinner at her house next weekend, are you going?” After getting confirmation from Akira, he texted back to Sae.

—

Opening up Futaba’s messages next, unsurprisingly it’s all about the latest episode of Featherman aired last night. He did watch it and responded to Futaba's enthusiasm with more of his analysis and theories.

Back then he always needed to dance around carefully when facing Futaba and Haru, he had indeed caused both of their parent’s deaths after all. It was stressful meeting them because he was so sure that they both didn't want to be on good terms with Goro. It definitely took some time, they came to terms with themselves letting go of their anger towards him, being mad at Goro also meant they are not moving forward with their life. Goro became Futaba's third favourite person (first is Sojiro, Akira comes second) and for Haru, Goro being a good advisor for Okumura Foods.

“Honey, I don’t think we can finish this if all you do in the afternoon is texting Futaba about the Featherman.” Akira commented.

Quickly texting Futaba that he’ll call back after he’s done busying, he sat back at the dining table and continued with his knitting progress. It was less than a quarter left to knit and they could knit both their parts together to form a large one. 

Goro never really got the chance to confront Haru because of her busy schedule, or his own schedule, or both of them too afraid to talk about it. The moment they found out how each other felt (with the help of Akira), they reconciled, found out they have a lot of similar interests (Akira hoped it _is_ not about something dangerous because he once saw Goro had a model gun out of nowhere), became fast friends and tried to make time for each other (their particular hangouts always left out Akira).

—

Goro worked his hands with the yarns, the repetitive motion already developed some sort of muscle memory. The last stretch is always the one that drained the most mentally, knowing the end is near and he just wants it to end already.

Akira’s phone rang, it was from Sumire. “Oh hey Sumire, how’s everything at the meet?”

Sumire was actually the first one that woke Goro up from his own slothering nightmares, the one that pulled him out from his suicidal thoughts because she knew how he felt back then. Goro thought he hid it quite well from the others, going through everyday following the motions. Not even Akira noticed it (because he had his own fair share of trauma to recover from), it was only Sumire that saw through his lies. Sumire reminded him that he wasn’t alone in this, Akira and the thieves were there for him. 

“Yeah, that’s great to hear. Goro? He’s here with me. Okay.” Akira passed him the phone.

“Hey Sumire, how are you? I hope you don’t overdo it again and faint without eating right.” Goro greeted with a little tease. 

“Goro-senpai! I've been taking good care of myself and I actually do eat well now, you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Good to hear, when will you be coming back?”

“I was about to tell you that, I’ll be coming back for holidays during Christmas.”

“I’ll make sure to throw a party to welcome our champion back to us.”

“Goro-senpai! Please, it’s not even finals yet and you’re already making me nervous.”

Goro could picture the hot flushed Sumire in his head, “We believe you can do it. Just remember we are cheering for you back in Japan.”

“Goro-senpai…” a pause. “Thank you, I’ll do my best!” Sumire sounded calmed and confident now. 

Goro finished the call after a few more exchanges with Sumire, “Why does she always sound different when she hears comforting words from you but not me?” Akira sulking, “Even back then she confessed to me first, not you.” He murmured his last sentence.

“Akira, you knew that we had no romantic feelings going on, it’s platonic and she feels closer to me more than to you. Not that she doesn't trust you anymore and there’s nothing to be jealous about.”

Akira finished his last few knit and did the bind off. “Here I’m done.” Then he stood up and got dinner ready.

Goro did not confront Akira about it because it was something Akira had come to terms by himself.

—

Goro managed to finish his part when Akira’s done with the cooking, Goro was glad that the food turned out edible because Akira tends to screw up his cooking if he’s in a bad mood.

By the time they finished both dinner and they just had to knit both of their blankets together. Akira sat next to Goro to help him hold down the blanket, not to let them fall because of its weight. Goro ran the yarn through both of their sides, joining both together, he realised he thought of everyone today. 

“Today I’ve been thinking a lot while knitting, I thought of everyone and how far we all have come to this point of life.” Goro looked up into Akira’s eyes, “I’m just glad I did not give up back then.”

Akira interlaced his fingers with Goro’s, “I was thinking about others too. Is this some kind of knitting magic? It pulls you back in time?”

Goro chuckled at the word choice, “I guess, this blanket turns out to be a meaningful piece after all. A proof of us living and mattered in this world.” Goro said as he finished the last bind off. “Let's try it now?”

Goro placed the blanket on the couch and went to get some hot tea ready, Akira went to set up the drama series recommended by Yusuke (one of the best art I’ve ever seen! I feel like my heart and soul have been strung! Now I must draw this feeling!) and Futaba (I totally recommend this! I even have 10,000 words of review for this series!).

Akira already wrapped himself in the blanket, he pulled the side of the blanket to show the empty space on his left. “Come on, the show is starting. This is super comfortable.”

Goro sat down and Akira pulled him closer to his chest, Goro leaned his weight on Akira, snuggling close to him. “This is really warm.”

Goro didn’t get far into the show because he was already tired from his busy weekdays, work at Sae’s firm and voluntary work. He let out a long and loud yawn, laid his head on Akira’s shoulder and dozed off. Akira shifts both of their positions, he’s on his back and lets Goro lay on top of his chest, embracing him with the blanket.

Many years ago, Akira couldn't imagine how he would get over his fear of being physically touched by other people, even more couldn’t imagine Akechi Goro would be his boyfriend, now husband. Akira thinks he couldn’t have done it without Goro and his friends, not alone. Getting back to the people that wronged them was one thing, but healing and moving forward were some obstacles that’s too huge for one person alone.

Akira smoothed his fingers on Goro's hair, it was soft and the smell of shampoo easing his mind. He kissed Goro’s temple and along with Goro’s even breathing, he stepped into the dreamland, where he would dream of happy memories and futures.

**Author's Note:**

> [Art](https://twitter.com/noxsomni/status/1330463870721421323?s=21) by Somnum  
> [My twitter](https://twitter.com/RikaRovy) but mostly I just RT other creators' stuff.
> 
> Thank you for reading! This whole story it’s just a bunch of my headcanons that I put in one place with a great excuse. _cough cough_


End file.
